1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method, an image processing method program, a recording medium recording the image processing method program, and an image processing apparatus, and can be applied to a terminal apparatus for printing photographs, for example. The present invention detects objects having a strong relationship among the objects which have been detected from a plurality of still images, and selects and outputs the still images including at least one of the objects. Thereby, the present invention enables the user to figure out the number of copies for distribution easily to process still images.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, terminal apparatuses for printing photographs taken by electronic still cameras have been installed in large-scale DPE stores, convenience stores, etc. Such a terminal apparatus prints out photographs by the operation of a user himself/herself. When the user attaches a recording medium, such as a memory card, etc., holding still images, which are the result of taking photographs, to the terminal apparatus, a menu including various kinds of selection options is displayed. When the user makes a selection from this menu, for example the still images recorded on this recording medium are displayed as thumbnail images in a list. Also, when the user sets the number of copies of each still image to print, etc., in this list display, and instructs printing, the user is allowed to print the set number of copies of and the set size of the photographs.
On such still image processing, for example Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-215643 has proposed a method in which human faces are recognized in still images, and the still images are classified on the basis of the face recognition result.
Photographs taken by an electronic still camera sometimes include one person, and sometimes include many persons. When a photograph including only one person is printed and distributed to that person, only one copy of photograph should be printed. On the other hand, when there are many persons taken in a photograph, there are cases where the many persons are family members, or cases where the many persons are unrelated persons, namely group members who are friends. Accordingly, when a photograph including many persons is printed and distributed to those persons, if this photograph is of a family, only one photograph should be printed. On the other hand, if this photograph is of group members, who are friends and unrelated persons, it becomes necessary to print out the same number of copies of the photograph as the number of persons in the photograph.
Accordingly, to date, when the user prints photographs taken by an electronic still camera using a printer, it has been necessary for the user to check and set the number of copies for distribution of each photograph while checking relationships among the persons in the photographs after all. Thus, there has been a problem in that the setting for the printing is troublesome.